If you really want to help sell your home, you need to remember what attracted you to it back when you were a prospective buyer. It is important to make wise marketing decisions that will attract buyers, whether they’re looking at the home from the street or taking a tour of the inside. Here are 5 Things you can do to help accomplish this.
1. Outside Staging.
When most people hear the phrase staging a home they immediately think of preparing the home’s interior — painting, arranging furniture and the like. While the interior is certainly important, the home’s exterior is an equally important (but often overlooked) home staging hot-spot.
Curb appeal is exactly what it sounds like. When potential buyers pull up to the curb in front of your home, you want the home to appeal to them as much as possible. This gives a good first impression, so it should part of your home staging checklist.
2. Lights!
You can’t have too much light in a house that’s on the market. For showings and open houses, turn on every light in the house, including ones you rarely use. During the daytime, open blinds and curtains to let prospects see how cheerful your home can be. Dark rooms are not appealing to buyers. Also make sure to wash the windows before you put your house on the market to allow for a “clean” view.
It is important to check all the lights, and replace any burned-out light bulbs. Home features that max out the amount of full-spectrum light to which a person is exposed – like sunlight or special bulbs and lamps that seek to mimic natural light – have been proven to actually cause people in the home to feel better.
3. Shelves, nooks and crannies.
Built-in shelves, drawers, closet organizers, nooks and niches all give prospective buyers hope that there’s an organized, sophisticated life in their near future if they buy your home – a future in which there’s a place for everything, and everything lives in its place. If you have these, highlight them; if you have odd-shaped niches or nooks and are looking for something smart to do with them before you put your home up for sale, consider installing inexpensive (but attractive) shelving.
When showing your house, clear off all counters, dresser tops, desks and tabletops to the bare minimum. It may look plain, but when seen through a buyer’s eyes, the more bare and stark, the better. Also clean out cabinets, cupboards, closets and all storage areas to give a neat, roomy appearance. That way, they can imagine their own items in your space.
4. Hey Neighbor!
Your neighbors can either help or hurt your chances of selling your home. Messy, uncaring, and wacky neighbors should concern you. While they may be wonderful people, they may also be hurting the sale of your house. From the curb, the neighboring homes should look as nice as yours. No weedy, overgrown lawns or gardens. No old, junky cars in sight. And the thing that will really hurt your sale – no barking dogs.
On the flip side, your neighbors themselves – not just the homes, but the people – can actually help sell your home. Many homeowners know people who want to live in their neck of the woods; this is one reason many seasoned real estate professionals hold their listings open to neighbors and send out postcards to neighbors announcing the listing – the neighbors might know people who are interested in your home!
Be sure to touch base with your neighbors as you plan to place your home on the market, and especially before any open houses as to give them a chance to clean up their curb appeal.
5. What’s that Smell?
While the right sights, sounds, and smells can accentuate your home to potential buyers, the wrong ones could drastically hurt your chances of selling.
Playing a soundtrack of classical musical is fine, but keep it at a low volume so that buyers will not be curious about what sounds you are trying to cover up. Natural sounds are obviously the best, unless they are from cicadas. Skip the artificial air fresheners for some fresh flowers. Pleasant smelling herbs in small planters would be a nice touch to a kitchen or sun room.
You may be used to the great view of trees from some of your windows, but prospective buyers are not. Don’t forget to leave these drapes and blinds open during showings.
If you are interested in obtaining more tips on selling your home, information on buying a home, or just have some questions about St. Louis Real Estate in general, contact me at DanBrassil.com.
Leave a Reply